The Club (1981)

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Bruce Beresford directed this adaptation of David Williamson's play (Williamson also scripted) about the ever-widening gap between professional sport and its boardroom intrigues. Jack Thompson is Laurie, a once popular ball player on the Australian Rules football circuit, but now an ineffective… More Bruce Beresford directed this adaptation of David Williamson's play (Williamson also scripted) about the ever-widening gap between professional sport and its boardroom intrigues. Jack Thompson is Laurie, a once popular ball player on the Australian Rules football circuit, but now an ineffective coach who tries to spark a mediocre football team into winning the league championship. But as he struggles to motivate his players, he becomes increasingly disenchanted with the sport as he witnesses how big business interests have become the main motivation of the game that has turned the game that he has devoted his life to into a heartless and insensitive sports franchise. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi